1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to diary pipeline cleaning systems and more particularly to an apparatus for automatically measuring and dispensing the liquid additives used by such cleaning systems.
2. Background Art
Pipeline cleaning systems for cow milkers are known in the art. Such cleaning systems use liquid additives such as detergent, acid, and sanitizer which are mixed with water and circulated through the pipelines and related components of the cow milking machine. One such system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,915,072.
With such systems, a measured amount of liquid additive is mixed with water in a tank and the solution is pumped from the tank through the pipeline of the milking system, emptying back into the tank, thereby continuously circulating the solution through the system for a selected period of time. The circulated liquid can be either water alone during a rinse sequence or it may be a mixture of water and another liquid additive, such as detergent for washing, acid for acidification, or sanitizer for sanitizing. Typically, all four solutions are used during a single cleaning cycle.
For the washing, acidification and sanitizing sequences, predetermined amounts of detergent, acid and sanitizer respectively must be added to the tank during each cleaning cycle. Heretofore, washing systems have used containers which automatically dump the liquid additive into the tank when required during the cleaning cycle. However, such systems have required that the operator manually refill the containers at the beginning of each cycle, a task which is both time consuming and difficult since filling must often be done from large bulk containers. Further, such systems depend on the operator to accurately measure out the right amounts, thereby leaving open the possibility of operator error. Still further, such systems have lacked the flexibility to accurately measure varied amounts of the particular liquid additive to be used.
The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.